


The Five-Tailed Fox

by BlackBirdAolen



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Alternate Universe, Artists, Bickering, Broken Gems, Composing, Cookies, Dull Gems, E-Piano, F/F, F/M, Faberge Eggs, Fox Carving, Friendship, Future Plans, Gems, Kitsune, Multi, Musical, Perspectives, Red Glow, Red Light, Relaxed Lunch, Rooms, Slice of Life, Strange Dreams, Tasting, Tasting Cookies, Teasing, Tree Carving, Unsettling Dreams, change, friendly teasing, new home, settling in, shrine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-07
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-02-16 13:20:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2271237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackBirdAolen/pseuds/BlackBirdAolen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Madoka, Mami, Homura, Sayaka and Kyouko are starting a new life together, after finishing school and receiving support from their parents to chase their goals for at least five years. Eager to get such a chance, they agree to take care of an old house and the shrine belonging to it. But there is not only one secret about the old buildings.</p><p>This work's rating will increase with time, to reflect some of the more adult themes which will come up in it with the chapters progressing.</p><p>Update September 2017: After three years, the story completely died on me. I don't like doing it, but I just have to declare this done, even though it is incomplete.</p><p> </p><p>  <a href="http://ask.fm/BlackBirdAolen">Got a fanfic idea for me?</a><br/><a href="http://cheroshseiphar.deviantart.com/">My deviantART - full of original fiction.</a><br/><a href="http://blackbirdaolen.tumblr.com/">Snippets and ramblings on my tumblr.</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Old Shrine Always Has Been Creepy

**Author's Note:**

> It's still a rather tame story at the beginning, more or less a slice of life type of story. This will change in future chapters, but not right away. I will point out the change if it becomes more visible.

"There we are. It should be this address, right?" Tomoe Mami looked up from the slip of paper and scrutinized the rather large wooden house in front of them. Her blond hair bounced lightly when she cocked her head to the side. "It's rather charming, I think. A bit run-down, but we should be able to fix it up in no time."

The other four girls agreed, though reluctantly. They had agreed to take care of an old house, with a strange shrine nearby, but they hadn't expected it to be so far off the next village. Mami chuckled, looking back at them and smiling encouragingly. "Now, don't all be so shy, we have this house all for ourselves. And what more could we ask for?"

"I think she is right." Akemi Homura, who just was braiding her hair anew, gave a shy laugh. "But I have to agree with Madoka, it looks rather mysterious and strange. I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling. The old owners had a reason to abandon this house, after all, so it's a bit worrying we are tasked with restoring it and keeping the grounds..."

Mami sighed, putting her hands on her hips and giving each girl a long look. They all had already celebrated their 18th birthday, but in some respects, they still were insecure teenagers. At least that was her impression. In her mind, Mami was responsible for the younger females, and she took some pride in that task. Straightening her back, which made her orange summer dress slip up along her thighs a little, she firmly stated: "We accepted the offer, and we are going to make the best of it. We promised our parents that we would all spend some time together here and try if we are able to make money with our own ideas of how to live. We have five years to try out this idea, so don't lose heart already."

Kaname Madoka, adorable as ever in her pink dress and with the red bows tied into her hair, chuckled lightly at Mami's statement. She was the soul of this little group, without a doubt. Aspiring to be an artist, she had impressed her friends deeply with her colorful, yet sometimes strange paintings. Mami always thought of Madoka as someone who saw the world with entirely different eyes. She did wonder what made Madoka paint those paintings of strange worlds and landscapes, often filled with beautiful little details, and forms which only revealed themselves when looking at the painting from a distance.

"Mami is right, we are all just a little pessimistic right now. It will all go by, I'm sure of that." Madoka smiled, and it seemed to illuminate her soft features. The effect was rather impressive, since it made her look even more radiant than ever. Like a supernatural creature, Mami thought. Madoka noticed the looks she was given, and immediately blushed. "Uhm, did I say anything weird?"

"No worries, you just looked like a doll again." Sakura Kyouko, almost unintelligible because of a cookie she was munching on, grinned at her gleefully. "I would just love to know how you do that." Kyouko adjusted her hotpants, wiggling lightly and making the other girls laugh. "Those stupid pants... I really need to get a belt for them."

Miki Sayaka, rather modestly dressed in a blue shirt and long pants, snickered about Kyouko's effort to keep her hotpants from slipping. "I'd rather suggest trying some long pants. In the end, you might end up falling out of your hotpants because they are so tiny."

"Excuse me!?"

Kyouko growled, and not even five seconds later, Kyouko and Sayaka were arguing, as so often. The other three females could only stand by and sigh about them. Homura shook her head, shielding her eyes from the sun and looking up into the blue skies above. Just a couple of white, feather-light clouds. It was the perfect day for writing something in the garden.

"I already asked myself when they would start arguing again." Homura, dressed the most formal of all five of them, took off her jacket and sighed. "It already started with the question of clothing. Kyouko was freezing when we drove here, but we had told her that such a tank top wouldn't be enough. And now Sayaka was complaining about the heat. But she in turn wouldn't listen when we said that long pants are not exactly the right clothes for this weather either."

Mami laughed, poking Homura's cheek lightly. "And you listened to none of our advice and just went with your suit anyway." Homura blushed deeply and looked at her black shoes, while Mami and Madoka were laughing lightly. "We really must look like a rather odd group. Or not like a group at all, with everyone being dressed differently."

While Kyouko and Sayaka still were arguing, Madoka slipped into the house and took a look around. It was rather well preserved, still radiating old charm. It had been modernized, without taking away from the old look of the whole place. They would need to sweep and take care of the somewhat stuffy air still trapped around the place, but with some patience, it would quickly become a rather nice home.

Madoka then noticed something a little out of place. Most of the rooms were devoid of decoration, only containing some furniture covered in white blankets. In one room, however, there was a collection of little stone figurines, all of them depicting foxes with an increasing number of tails. Madoka crouched in front of the low table, taking a look at every single figurine. A small sheet hanging over the table told her that these were depictions of kitsunes in their fox forms, and that the kitsune with nine tails was the most powerful amongst them. Why those figurines would be placed in this room, however, was a mystery to her. The little space didn't look like anything special. She couldn't see why the kitsune figurines and some intricately worked boxes at the opposite side of the wall would have to be kept in here. It was a pity to have them here instead of distributing them around the house, but she guessed that the previous owners had a reason to arrange everything like that.

"What is this?" Madoka flinched when Homura suddenly spoke up behind her. Madoka shifted to the side, to show Homura the kitsune figurines. "Those are pretty... Are they kitsunes?"

"Yes. At least that's what the sign says." Madoka pointed towards the sheet explaining the meaning of the figurines. "Isn't it sad they are just collecting dust in here? They would be so much nicer around the house. They look kind of old, don't you think so too?"

Homura knelt down next to Madoka, and took a long look at every single of the figurines. The one-tailed was curled up and sleeping. The two-tailed was sitting and looking upward, making Homura think that it might be watching a bird or a butterfly above. The three-tailed was sniffing the ground, the four-tailed arranged in a way which made it look like it was observing the three-tailed one, with its head cocked to the side questioningly. The five-tailed was on its hind paws, the five tails being the counterpoint to ensure that it could stand upright like that to begin with. The six-tailed looked kind of disheartened, with its six tails sprawled out and its head hanging down. The seven-tailed had its fur bristling and its muzzle drawn into a threatening growl, tails raised to give it more height. The eight-tailed looked a little disinterested in everything around it. The nine-tailed, finally, was completely calm, looking back at anyone observing it. Out of the figurines, it also looked the most life-like, as though the creator had seen the real thing before.

"They do look a little old. But maybe, it's just because of the dust. From what I heard, there have been people in here regularly. However, for the past years, this house hasn't really been inhabited. I don't know for how long it has been going on like this, though. So there's no telling when those appeared." Homura sighed quietly, fanning herself. "I'm sorry, Madoka, but I think that wearing the suit today was a great mistake. I still feel hot and unwell."

Madoka immediately became concerned, and helped her friend going to the bedroom. They had laid out futons for the first few nights, and were still haggling over whether to make everyone sleep in the same room, or pick out five nice rooms next to one another. But before they could do that, they still would have to get everything cleaned and prepared for them to actually start living in the house. Madoka helped Homura sitting down, holding her hand and offering a sympathetic smile. "I told you that it was a bad idea to wear the suit. But you still were insistent that it could be advantageous to make a good impression. So much for that, huh."

Homura chuckled, a bit embarrassed. "I'm not sure myself why I wanted to make a good impression on anyone. I already knew that the house had been abandoned long ago, but still..." She fidgeted a little, sighing then. "Maybe I just wanted to appear educated. But I think I rather struck others as haughty."

"Oh no, you didn't." Madoka laughed and hugged Homura tightly. "You're worrying too much, Homura. You're not haughty, and if someone thinks like that of you, they are not worth bothering with. You're a fantastic person, and you always have been fantastic." She brushed through Homura's long hair a little, feeling how her friend squirmed a little. Of course, she had embarrassed Homura a little. But it was just too cute to see her reaction not to do it now and then. "Oh, yes, have you seen the shrine yet? I didn't see one when we arrived here, but in the description, it said that there was supposed to be one close by."

Homura shook her head, taking off her glasses for a moment. "I didn't have the chance to check the surroundings yet. According to the sheet we got, it should be a little up the mountain, but not more than five minutes of walking away. I'm honestly a bit worried about that. I'm still not feeling so well when walking uphill."

Madoka nodded understandingly, her eyebrows furrowing with worry. Homura still had trouble with her heart condition, even though it miraculously improved over the past four years. The doctors had claimed that it was nothing short of a wonder, but Madoka was convinced that it had been Mami's cooking. Mami was destined to be a master chef, and her dishes always warmed them from the core. So, why shouldn't they be able to improve someone's health, even with such a serious condition?

"We shouldn't go there yet, I guess." Madoka patted Homura's shoulder reassuringly and smiled at her. "The owners said that the shrine doesn't have such a high priority at the moment, so we can relax and get accommodated to our new house first. Isn't it all so exciting?" Madoka laughed and bounced lightly. "I mean, we are sharing our first house together, and our parents are so supportive! I never would have thought that they would agree with our plans for the future. After all, only Mami chose something which will certainly earn her some money. Restaurants are always needed, but authors, artists, dancers and musicians... they have it a little harder." She pondered the thought for a moment. "Well, Kyouko and Sayaka still picked something semi-solid, my mother said. She is not all that happy that I want to make my living like this, but she was even more worried about you, Homura. Can you imagine that?"

Homura laughed and nodded, needing to wipe her eyes as the laughter had brought tears to her eyes. "You mother always was such a person. Always worrying about our all well-being. But it's nice to have someone thinking of us like that. And it really surprised me that she convinced our parents to butt in with some money for us, at least for those five years. It's not all that cheap, after all."

Madoka nodded thoughtfully, sitting down more comfortably next to Homura. She had cocked her head to the side, an expression of excitement and wonder on her face. "I know, it won't be easy to make up for what they have done for us. I guess that Kyouko's father will be incredibly worried about his daughter getting into the 'right circles', as he called it, and your parents were indecisive about what you might write, and what press you might get published by." She chuckled, shrugging lightly. "But I guess that, even if we still were living with our parents, we would worry them to no end."

Homura nodded in agreement, and then looked up when she noticed Mami, Sayaka and Kyouko finally joining them. At least, Sayaka and Kyouko were talking normally with one another once more, which meant that they had resolved their little argument somehow. Homura wouldn't have been surprised in the least if Mami once more had intervened to finally get them to get along with one another again. Kyouko sighed, flopping down on her futon unceremoniously, which was immediately followed up by a coughing fit. Sayaka cocked her head to the side, swiping a finger across one of the low drawers.

"Oh dear, it really is dusty in here. We at least need to clean up this room, or else, we'll be having trouble falling asleep tonight."

Kyouko sneezed again, and then got up on her feet. "Agreed. Mami, could you go shopping with Homura while we clean up?" She already was looking around for cleaning utensils, and found them in a rather hidden, small space next to their chosen bedroom for the night. "There we go. We should have this cleaned up in no time."

"Alright, but don't start arguing again. You know how much Madoka dislikes the two of you shouting at each other." Mami chuckled, pulling Homura with her gently. "Come on, Homura, we will make this a nice shopping trip. We shouldn't need more than an hour to find everything we need."

"Okay, Mami."

Homura smiled, a blush coming to her cheeks. She always liked to go with Madoka or Mami, and it filled her heart with glee to be part of this little group. They had gone to different classes, but during their time at school, they had somehow befriended one another. It mostly was due to Madoka and her way of being so cheery and easy-going around everyone. The five of them then had planned their future together, at least for those five years, and against the expectations of their parents had actually held out until everyone had finished school to move to this house together. Now, they just had to work hard to fulfill their dreams, and everything would be as they had envisioned it.

"You're so radiant today, Homura." Mami smiled, having grabbed a shopping bag and with her arm looped with Homura's. "Are you happy that you decided to come with us after all?"

Homura blushed once more, then nodded with a quiet smile. "I was insecure about this whole adventure before us, but then I just told myself I had to do it. This is a big chance for all of us, so I didn't want to miss out on it. It would have been sad if I hadn't come with you... And, Mami? Would you have been sad, too?"

"Of course." Mami hugged Homura, a bright smile lighting up her face. "I wanted all of us to come here, and it was the best decision we ever made. That's just my opinion about it."

Homura happily skipped along with Mami, which made the older girl laugh heartily. Mami loved seeing Homura this happy, and it filled her heart with a great lightness whenever she saw how Homura had developed over the past years. Ever since her heart condition had improved so much, Homura had been a lot fitter, and had started to enjoy life much more. They still would have to watch out for Homura to not overdo it, but in the end, it would all turn out quite alright, of that Mami was sure.

"Now, what will we cook today?" Mami pondered this thought while she was standing in front of the shelves filled with different treats, right opposite to the shelf with all sorts of spices. "I think we should stick to something simple today. And, most importantly, it should be something easy on the stomach." She hesitated a little, sighing. "Homura, do you think it's alright if I make some fast-food today? I don't think I want to rely on the kitchen being all prepared yet. It could be that we still need to buy pans and utensils. Besides, it could happen that we need to do more than just clean out that one room. You know how it goes. One thing triggers the next..."

Homura chuckled and shook her head. "You're worrying too much, Mami. We should at least make sure to take some supplies with us, and keep Kyouko from eating everything at once. Though then again, she did improve in that respect. She's not eating as awfully much as before."

"Mami, don't say that!" Homura blushed a little, but she had to laugh. "You're right, of course, but it's rude to talk like that about her."

"I know, I'm sorry." Mami snickered, patting Homura's head lightly. "Now, what do you think you would make the others happy?"

They spent the next half hour picking from various sweet and spicy instant meals, as well as a set of spices and sauces. Homura also found a selection of sweets from a surprisingly well-sorted shelf. Mami reminded her to not take too much, as Kyouko still had a big fondness of sweets, and could easily have fallen back into her old habits. They could afford food easily, but Mami didn't want to risk going beyond their budget already. After all, it would take some time for them to make any progress with their ambitions.

Homura then began chatting with Mami about the new story idea she had been having, and she was glad that Mami actually paid attention and was actively trying to give some help, by asking questions about the plot and the characters. While Mami still found it sounded a little strange that those characters would just come to Homura's mind without Homura trying to create them, she understood that it was the way her friend had all those fantastic ideas. Sometimes, they were a little too fantastic, and couldn't be properly conveyed through a story, but all in all, Homura was quite optimistic that in about two years' time, she would have her first novel published.

"I hope it will go equally well with my plans..." Mami sighed quietly. "I always say that I'm optimistic about the future, as long as each of us is chasing her dreams, but at times, I feel like maybe, I will make a mistake by pursuing this goal."

Homura blinked, astonished by such a confession. She had thought that Mami was one of the ever-optimistic sort, a bit like Madoka, but apparently, she had been slightly deceived by Mami's smiles. Then again, she thought to herself, many people wore masks, which they only could take off around those they felt comfortable with. Homura hugged Mami tightly, feeling that her friend was really struggling to express herself. Deep down, Homura had the impression that Mami hadn't told her everything quite yet. But she wouldn't put any pressure on her. Her friend didn't deserved that at all.

As they were heading back, Homura noticed that the wind was picking up a little. There weren't any clouds in sight, so it wasn't the sign of a storm approaching. She was grateful for the breeze, though, since it helped with the stuffy feeling the suit still was giving her. She didn't know why she hadn't changed before going to the shopping trip with Mami. Mami teased her about that exactly, and Homura blushed once more with slight shame. She knew that she was just making it hard on herself, but she was determined to show strength.

"Look up there, Mami." Homura had stopped and was staring up at the mountain slope in wonder. "I didn't notice the shrine when we got here. Do you think it was because we were so preoccupied with the mansion?"

Mami shrugged, blinking a little. "That could be. But it still is odd that we didn't see it. Though you have to admit, it is made from rather dark wood. It sort of blends into its surroundings. That's weird, shouldn't it be seen from far away already?"

Homura pondered the question, and she had to agree. A shrine was supposed to be seen, not to be hidden. But then again, as she had understood it, the shrine was even older than the house, much older, in fact. It was not unlikely that the wood had darkened to this degree over time, and that it had developed this near camouflaged color with the influence of the changing seasons and weather working on the wood.

"I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling about this shrine. Shouldn't it be taken care of more thoroughly?" Mami looked quite worried. "I mean, with how dark the wood has become, I wouldn't be surprised if it had started rotting. Besides, don't you think the whole thing might have become rather weak? They really do expect us to do a lot if we are supposed to take care of the house and the shrine all the same."

Mami didn't look happy about it, but she seemed a bit calmed down. Still, Homura could see the worry in her eyes. She asked herself why Mami seemed so upset about this situation. They hadn't seen the shrine up close yet, so it could be a lot better than feared. "Mami, don't lose heart already. We don't need to restore the shrine in one week or something like that. No one asked us to do that. If that was the case, we would have to be worried. But other than that, I'd say we take care of the house first, and then take a look at the old shrine."

Just at that moment, an old couple was walking past them into the opposite direction. The woman had caught what Homura said, and now was staring at her with worry and sadness in her eyes. "Oh no, did they ask you to live in this house?"

Homura was stunned, blinking at the old woman. "N-No, we were looking for a place to live, and thought the offer to live here was quite generous," she slowly replied, unsure what to think of the woman. "Of course, the shrine looks like it's in bad shape, but there are surely not many things that have to be done there, right?"

The old woman shook her head, sighing quietly. "You don't know what you're up against. That old shrine up the mountain always has been a very sinister place. I wouldn't go there for all the money in this world."

The man with her smiled apologizingly, patting the woman's shoulder. "Bad memories again?"

The woman merely nodded, and Homura felt serious concern rising in her chest. She gazed up the slope of the mountain again, at the shrine in the distance. Was it really so dangerous up there? It simply looked a little run-down, but surely not like it was a dangerous place. And still, it seemed like the woman thought of it as worse than any other place she ever had been to. She looked more frail than already, and just about ready to cry. The old man smiled again, and then gently stirred her away. There was so much sadness clinging to both of them, it seemed just so strange...

"Do you think we made a mistake by coming here?" Mami was genuinely worried by now. "This didn't seem to be a joke. She was truly upset by the thought of us living in that house and having to take care of the shrine. I wonder..."

"We should make the best of it regardless." Homura tried to sound reassuring, but deep down, she was at least as worried as Mami was. "If we give up already, we will never be able to fulfill our dreams. At least that is what I believe."

 


	2. A Sunny Day Soothes The Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Settling into the house requires all five girls to work on it wholeheartedly. And what not to enjoy about a wonderful day, warm and with a slight breeze?

Mami woke to the sound of birds chirping outside, and stretched in content. She sighed quietly, looking around her. The other girls were still fast asleep, tangled into their blankets and pillows. It was surprising her that none of them seemed to feel homesick, but then again, Mitakihara wasn't far away. The city could be seen from the small village close to the mansion. It still was a bit far away, and it was only possible to see the big city on a clear day. But there was no doubt that the proximity to Mitakihara was keeping their feeling of being homesick at bay. They had left their nests, but they still were able to return to them at any point in time.

Yawning quietly and slowly undoing her braids, Mami got out of bed. She remained in her pajamas, as it had become rather cold during the night, despite the summer heat during the day. Maybe, she pondered, it was because of the small stream close to the mansion. It was barely a foot broad, but it ran very close to the mansion. Because of that, the mansion didn't have a cellar. It still was a little problematic for the foundations of the mansion, but up to this point, it had held up splendidly. She wondered what it would be like in winter and spring, if the small stream would freeze up, and then burst with the water from the melting snow in Spring.

To not wake the others up, Mami quietly sneaked out of the room, leaving the door just slightly ajar. The other girls were still sleeping soundly, and it looked fairly adorable how they were cuddled up in their blankets. Mami snickered to herself, looking around in the kitchen. She and Homura had bought plenty of groceries yesterday, but it still would be a little challenge for her to cook like that. She still was used to the rather luxurious kitchen of her parents back in Mitakihara, not one lacking most of the technological advances they were enjoying by now.

Mami was glad that for breakfast, she didn't have to cook much. She did make some fried eggs, and then used the still hot pan to toast some white bread, since they didn't have a toaster yet. The smell of the fried eggs was filling the air and slowly crept into the bedroom, waking the other girls from their sleep. Mami chuckled when she heard the first yawns, stirring the toast slices a little to make sure that they wouldn't burn. If she already made the effort to prepare breakfast, she wanted to make it as good as somehow possible.

"Good morning, Mami." Kyouko stood in the door, yawning and rubbing her eyes. "How is it going with cooking? I'm starving."

Mami grinned, shaking her head. "You're always starving, Kyouko. But you're lucky, I'm almost finished with preparing everything."

Kyouko sat down at the table, grabbing a few tomatoes, salad, a boiled egg, and a few slices of bread. She did look quite hungry—they didn't really have much time to eat yesterday, because they still had tidied up some other parts of the house, as they already had been at it. It had taken a lot of the dusty smell out of the air in the house, and it had ensured they had all slept peacefully. One by one, Sayaka, Homura and Madoka joined them in the kitchen, and as last of them, Mami sat down, setting down the fresh slices of toast in a small basket.

"How did you all sleep?" Mami smiled, stirring her tea lightly. "I had a wonderful sleep. No strange dreams or anything like I would have thought. And I'm not feeling particularly out of place, as my parents warned me might happen. What about you, Madoka?"

Madoka smiled, her pink hair still ruffled. "I slept quite alright. I did miss my parents and my brother a little, but all in all, I felt wonderful around here. It's still a bit unbelievable that we have come here."

Mami nodded, then looked at Homura. "What about you? Any feelings of homesickness?"

"Not really." Homura rubbed her eyes lightly before she put her glasses back on. "I just had a strange dream about the shrine." Mami and Homura had told the others that they had seen the shrine from a distance when they had returned from their shopping trip. "It seemed to change its appearance every other second, and that was just confusing. And I dreamed something about a fox, I believe, but I'm not quite sure about it. And the memory is too fleeting for me to really analyze it."

Madoka chuckled lightly, patting Homura's shoulder. She was just drinking a cup of hot cocoa. "It's alright, Homura. You probably shouldn't worry about it too much. You always had strange dreams, you told me that yourself some time ago."

"Ah, yes, I did." Homura blushed deeply. She was a bit embarrassed, because she remembered that she had sounded quite worried that she had such strange dreams all the time. "But it's okay, Madoka, it wasn't a scary dream or anything."

Kyouko remained silent for a moment, but as she noticed all those expectant looks, she sighed deeply. "Alright, alright, I'll confess. I dreamed about a huge hall filled with people, and me performing in front of them. And just me! That was a really crazy dream, but I didn't think it was that bad. I'm a bit unsure about it, though." Kyouko stared down at her plate for a moment. "I mean, that's something really crazy, right? It's just so..."

"I think it's a great dream." Sayaka smiled at Kyouko. "I mean, there's something really cool about it. If I ever get that far with playing, then I would be quite glad. It's still hard for me to get the pieces I'm practicing perfectly pinned. And as long as I'm not perfectly sure what I'm playing there, I can't start improvising. At least I don't want to start with it before I know I can play it by heart."

"Someone is very ambitious there." Kyouko snickered, chewing on a slice of toast with some tomatoes on it. "So, what did you dream of?"

Sayaka thought about it for a moment. "I dreamed of gliding through the water. I don't know, it seemed to be like a swimming pool. It was all light blue and peaceful, not dark and deep like an ocean. Though, then again, I saw something colorful swimming beneath me, mimicking my movements. There's something strange about the dream, I don't know how to describe it. It seemed all peaceful for the most time, but sometimes, I had the feeling that something was wrong. Completely wrong."

Mami cocked her head to the side, thinking about it. "That's strange. But then again, dreams are sometimes hard to understand, aren't they?"

Sayaka nodded thoughtfully, but didn't answer any longer. Then Madoka distracted them all by starting to talk about some of the rooms of the house. They conversed about how they would share the rooms of the house, to make sure that everyone had their space for their aspirations. Mami already had decided that she would occupy the kitchen most of the time, for some baking and trying out new recipes. Sayaka had found a quiet room facing south, and with a view on the mountains opposite of the slope with the shrine further up from the house. Kyouko would occupy a room facing west, from where she could see Mitakihara, and have a view on anyone approaching the house. Madoka had picked a room facing north and the mountain slope, on the ground floor, while Homura would be right above Madoka on the first floor, together with Sayaka and Kyouko. Mami, finally, would remain in the kitchen, and the room facing east, towards the garden adjacent to the house. There, she would also have room to maybe plant a few flowers and herbs.

"So, if everyone has decided on a room already, it's all the better. But we still have quite something to clean out, no?" Mami thought about it, then picked up a folder she had put down on the kitchen counter. "According to the list the owners gave us, there are about two dozen rooms here, however you want to look at it. There apparently are some rooms which are separated by sliding walls, and if we take them away, we have quite big rooms. As a matter of fact, Madoka, you picked one of those rooms with sliding paper walls. They could be just pushed to the side completely, and then turned to be very close to the wall. At least that's how I observed it. It's interesting that those having built the mansion would have thought about something like that."

"Why would it be so unusual?" Kyouko blinked a little. "I mean, I guess it was modernized a couple of times, not just one time. But there's always the same charm about it. So, probably, they only gave the mansion to those who were willing to make this compromise when fixing everything up. It's actually a good mindset. Sometimes, it's really a pity what people do to those old houses."

The others agreed with Kyouko, though then moved away from that somewhat delicate topic. "So, what are we going to do about that shrine? We will have to take a look at it at some point, but it still looked rather spooky." Mami shuddered a little when she remembered how the shrine looked from afar. "I don't particularly like the thought that we have to go up there and be close to the shrine at some point."

"Why is that?" Kyouko looked rather surprised, and Sayaka was just as puzzled about this as the red-head. "I thought we took this mansion knowing fully well that we had to take care of this shrine. Of course, it's not really the modern approach, and we have to go without many of the nice things from Mitakihara, but there are still things we will need to do."

"I know, I know, we are making compromises here, but I still have a bad feeling about the shrine. Homura, you remember that old woman we saw yesterday, right?" Mami rubbed her hands a little, looking uncomfortable. "I don't know, but I just have the feeling that there was more to it than hysteria. Her husband... I at least think it was her husband, he looked so sad, too. There has to be something about the shrine which left a mark on her. And not in the good way."

Madoka furrowed her eyebrows, shaking her head slowly. "I don't know, Mami, that might be a wrong start with the shrine. I mean, was the woman really talking about that shrine?"

"I'm pretty sure she was." Homura chewed on a tomato, thinking back on the encounter they had. "She was talking about how she pitied us that we were the new ones taking care of the mansion and the shrine. There is no way that we mixed that up."

"We can't know if there wasn't another shrine here at some point." Sayaka shrugged lightly. "I mean, many of the shrines were lost over the past years, but that one up the slope, it seems to be a bit more protected, or maybe the family invested more money and effort into this."

Mami shrugged, resting her chin atop her hands. "I just don't like this. I don't like how this all looked with the woman and the shrine. I'm sure that there was something horrible which happened to her at some point. And it's connected to the shrine."

A brief silence fell, then Madoka got up and took a deep breath. "I think we should go to the shrine in one week's time. We can't put it off forever, but we need to get the house fixed up first. And then, we'll have to make sure that we get everything done what is asked of us. We don't have to pay much rent, so I don't see why we should just enjoy the perks of it."

"I know, Madoka, but I still have a bad feeling about this." Mami looked genuinely worried, but she also knew that it was pointless discussing with Madoka. She might look adorable and still rather light compared to the others, but she was also one of the most set of them. She wouldn't be deterred from the thought of taking care of the shrine. She always was one to return what was offered to her. "But we should take it one step at a time, you're right. We have the house to focus on at the moment, and then we have the shrine to take care of. It has been standing without someone to tend to it for about 60 years, according to the family who used to live here, so we still have some time, I suppose."

They then agreed to put the topic of the shrine off for as long as they needed to get everything at the house cleaned out and set up. They would still need to make sure that the furniture in the house was intact. From the owners, they had received permission to throw out anything which was broken and useless after all the time without someone to take care of everything. The shrine had been without anyone to watch over it for a longer time than the house, but from the looks of it, it seemed that the house had taken a little more damage than the shrine, in a way. Of course, there had been people to repair anything which was really urgent, but there hadn't been anyone really living in the house for some time.

For most of the day, they were preoccupied with moving about furniture, cleaning the floors of every room, and arrange some decoration to give the house a friendlier touch. In between cleaning the rooms, they took quite some breaks, to enjoy the warm day. They didn't want to stay in the house at all the time, and whenever they went out to soak up some sun, their worries seemed to fade a little more. Homura still was thinking about the old woman they had seen the day before, but she could understand less and less why they had worried so much about the woman. There was something unsettling about the shrine, even from a distance. That was out of the question. Yet there was something strangely angering about it right now. They had been so worried and panicked about the woman's state they had forgotten about the fact that they hadn't even seen the shrine up close yet. And that was somewhat unbalancing.

"What are you thinking about?" Madoka sat down next to Homura at the table they had brought to the garden, setting down two cups of tea Mami had prepared for them. "Are you thinking about the old woman again?"

"Yes." Homura scratched the back of her neck, and looked down on her hands. "I don't know, but just now, I thought it was pretty damned stupid of Mami and me to be so worried about it. It might be that she meant to point out the shrine we have to take care of right now, but we haven't seen what the shrine contains yet. I mean, we only saw it from afar, and it looked worn from the weather and the long years of standing there. I don't know why I was so worried about it any longer. There was something unsettling about the aura of the shrine, that was for sure, but that could just have been because we met that woman. I felt a bit worried before that already, but I guess it were just the worries that we might be in over our head with the shrine."

Madoka chuckled, shrugging lightly. "I don't know, maybe you're just overthinking everything again. I mean, of course you're more or less the brain of our group, but that also means that you are often thinking too much of something which actually is not that bad. Maybe it's the same with this shrine, huh?"

"It could be, yes." Homura smiled back at Madoka, grabbing her cup and sipping at the fruity tea. "And you are the soul of the group, Madoka. Without you, we wouldn't have befriended one another, and we wouldn't have embarked on this experiment." She smiled, brushing through her hair and stopping when she felt the red ribbon tied into her hair. "And I never would have started wearing this ribbon, I suppose."

Madoka smiled, hugging Homura briefly. "It looks perfect on you. And don't blush again, Homura. You've got to be a little more confident. My mother always told me that being self-confident and thinking that you must have secret admirers were all part of the secret of beautiful women. And you want to be one, right?"

Homura blushed a deep red, laughing then. "You're mean, Madoka! You know that you can tease me with that all day long, and that I can't stop blushing when you do that."

They laughed and teased one another for some time longer, while Kyouko and Sayaka were in the middle of one of their discussions again, this time concerning the problem if they would disturb one another or the others when they would set up their rooms on opposite sides of the house. They wouldn't bother anyone but the others with the potential noise, since Kyouko liked to turn up the music quite some, while Sayaka was already rather loud with practicing on the piano. The house even had one, in the room Sayaka had picked for herself. But Homura, who was sitting in the middle of it, needed a bit of calm and peace while she was writing. Mami and Madoka, finally, didn't care about noise that much.

Sayaka came over, sighing quietly. "Homura, we just have a question. It's kind of important, after all..."

Kyouko nodded in agreement, leaning onto the table. "Won't it be a problem with us practicing while you want to write. After all, we are making quite some noise then. And you need to have some peace and quiet while writing."

"Oh, it's alright, really." Homura smiled brightly. "I got a pair of headphones from my parents, which block out sound. Instead, I can just listen to some very low music while writing. It won't be a problem, really. And if it's a bit too loud, I can just move down into another room. Don't worry, Sayaka and Kyouko, we have enough room, so there shouldn't be any trouble with sharing the house between us, right?"

"Right." Kyouko snickered, then hugged Homura tightly, until she squeaked lightly. "That's the spirit, Homura, you're already cheering everyone up. I think Madoka taught you at least that."

"W-What's that supposed to mean?" Homura was more than just a little flustered, and for a moment, she wasn't sure how Kyouko had meant that. Was that a hidden insult, or was it really just a little teasing? "I wasn't pulling you down before, was I?"

"No no, no worries." Sayaka ruffled Homura's hair gently. "It was just that you always worry so much, but with Madoka around you, you should be a little less wary of everything. And that's just beneficial for you, after all."

Homura looked down with fiery cheeks, and Madoka laughed gently about how her friend was so flustered. "It's alright, Homura. It's alright. We're here together, and there is nothing wrong with feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment. I suppose that thinking of the shrine as strange is just a side effect from that."

"I don't know..." Homura sighed and looked up at the blue skies. "I'm still unsure about it. But I want to try it so much. I want to have this chance, I want to have this shot at becoming an author. And I will make sure that I grab this chance and work on it with all of my heart. I don't want to disappoint myself with the thought that I missed out on something which I would have the opportunity to grasp at this point in time."

Madoka nodded thoughtfully, gripping her cup a little more tightly. "I was a bit unsure as to what to do with my abilities so far, but I guess that everything will work out if I just want it to happen. We all have our part in this experiment, and now, everything we can do is making the best of it. Our parents have shown so much support and respect for our dreams, we can count ourselves lucky."

"That's true." Homura laughed, and now leaned back and looked a lot more relaxed. "I don't know why, but I feel much more reassured by now. I don't know why, but I think it's because I talked to you, Madoka. You have an amazingly positive influence on all of us."

Madoka chuckled, rubbing the back of her head in an embarrassed manner. "Oh, I don't know, this is just all so overwhelming for a single one of us. But we are all together in this, so there is no way any of us can pull back now. And I think that might just be good that way."

They leaned back against the now warmed chairs, enjoying the tea and just letting their thoughts float about. There was nothing to worry about, at least not at the moment. Of course, they wouldn't be done with the house before tomorrow. But they would be done in some time, and then could turn their attention towards the shrine. But everything would happen in time.

"So, are we getting back to work?" Mami leaned in the door to the garden, smiling towards the small group sitting around the table. "Or maybe, we should let that rest until tomorrow?"

"I think we deserved a big pause, Mami." Madoka smiled and pulled her over to the table, and with a sigh, Mami sat down. "Especially you. You were up first and did most of the work, as I see it."

"Oh, it's alright." Mami hugged Madoka around the waist, then looked up at the skies and closed her eyes, to allow the warmth of the sun to caress her face for a while. It was wonderful to be here with the others, and it was a perfect day to enjoy the nature surrounding them. They did miss the city a little, since it offered such luxury to them, but out here, everything felt much more open, and free for them to explore.

"I wonder what we will experience out here." Mami took a deep breath and stretched with delight. "If every day is as wonderful as this one, then we made just the right decision."

"What, just because of the weather, it will be the right or wrong decision?" Sayaka laughed and poked Mami into the ribs, which made the blonde squeak in surprise. "I thought we were here to get everything done what we ever aspired to do."

"Don't tease me about that." Mami blushed and pushed Sayaka lightly. "You're being mean again."

"I like being mean now and then." Sayaka grinned broadly, then stretched her arms and rested her upper body on the table top. "But not so much today. It's warm, it's nice, and there's no reason to tease you endlessly."

Mami sighed quietly, but then relaxed and allowed her mind to drift. They had settled into the house pretty much already, even though it wasn't quite cleaned up yet. The smell of dust was pretty much gone in the rooms they had set up as their working rooms, and the bedroom they shared would remain like that a while longer. Mami was quite sure by now that they would remain together in that bedroom for a whole while longer. Otherwise, they would pretty much be on their own all day long.

"We surely are privileged." Mami smiled to herself. "We have a nice house, enough money for the five years to come, and enough time to learn how to best use our abilities. I guess we have no choice but to make the best of it now, huh."

"Pretty much, yes." Kyouko grinned. "We have each other, we have enough motivation. Nothing can go wrong."

 


	3. The Key To A Calm Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sayaka spends her day working diligently on her musical. And she isn't doing all too bad... Though, there is just a faint worry on her mind. And it doesn't seem to be without reason.

Sayaka tapped against her bottom lip, thinking about how she should proceed with the piece she was working on. Ever since they had moved in, she had been writing her own musical. It wasn't anything too great, at least according to her own opinion about it. But the others kept insisting that she was doing fantastically at it, so Sayaka was motivated to work hard on realizing her dreams. Just as everyone else, she was working diligently on making the vision of their future come true. She had a chance of doing so pretty fast, since she already had quite some fans online, but she didn't want to lean back and just let the others work hard for their dreams. She wanted to prove that she, too, was here to accomplish something.

She heard Kyouko practicing on the other side of the house, the heavy bass pulsing through the whole building, as it seemed. At first, she had feared that the red-head's tendency to blast the music all over the place would distract her from her own work, but in the end, it had turned out to be an unexpected source for inspiration. For some weird reason, the contrast between what Kyouko was dancing to and what she was trying to accomplish seemed to work out in the best way possible. And since no one else was bothered by the noise, it was all working out better than expected.

Tapping her fingers against the keys of her e-piano, Sayaka pondered what she should include in the musical. She had the rough plot of the story she wanted to tell pinned down, but she still found that it lacked that special something which would make the people want to come and sit through the whole thing. That was a bit of a problem, since she wanted to make sure that everyone would be simply craving to get into the musical. She, as Mami and Kyouko, had the best chances of quickly realizing what she had come here for. Madoka could have a chance by helping her design the backdrop of the stages, and create some paintings for her to use as an inspirational source, as well as a background for the posters later on. But all in due time.

There was a knocking at the door, and then, Mami peeked into the room. She smiled, winking at Sayaka. "Everything working out up here? Kyouko sure is on fire today. She is dancing like mad. I can hear her feet at all the time."

"Funny, I can't hear a thing." Sayaka leaned back in her chair, stretching in content. "I still struggle with the finer lines of the plot. And overall, something seems to be missing. That special spark that would make the whole thing worth sitting through."

"Huh..." Mami leaned her head to the side, seeming to try and think of something helpful. "You know, Sayaka, you have been sitting here for the past two weeks, so you might want to take a day off? I don't want you to become all frustrated, and you said yourself that sometimes, taking a break is all that you need to get into the flow again."

"I know, I know." Sayaka grumbled, getting up and looking back at her sheets in longing. "But I really don't want to. I have the feeling that I'm close to accomplishing my goal. But it just won't come to me."

"And that's why you should take a break." Mami grabbed Sayaka's arms gently, leading her out of the room and down the stairs, even though the blue-haired female was complaining all the way. Mami chuckled to herself about that. Sayaka still was the overzealous one, who wanted to get everything right at the first attempt. But that also mad her charming, in a way.

She steered Sayaka into a chair, handing her a cup of tea and pushing a tray with small cookies over to her. "Try some of them." Mami grinned, pointing at a mess of flour, sugar, and different spices. "I experimented with flavors a little. The tea will help softening the taste afterwards. I need your opinion on some of the cookies. Try these first."

Sayaka heard her stomach rumbling, and with slightly red ears, she grabbed the first cookie to take a bite. The taste of oranges, almonds, and a trace of cinnamon exploded on her tongue, and she couldn't help sighing in bliss when she swallowed the bite. "Gods, Mami, you have outdone yourself again. It tastes wonderful." She snickered quietly, licking her lips. "Though, the taste would match a Christmas theme, don't you think so, too?"

"That was my intention." Mami snickered, her cheeks just the slightest shade of red. "But don't stall now. I want to know how the others taste."

Sayaka complied with Mami's request, though now and then, she scribbled on her notepad. They all had formed the habit of carrying one around with them at all the time, along with a reliable pen, and plenty of space for sudden bursts of ideas. Kyouko was a bit slacking in that respect, but she also claimed that she could memorize what she wanted to keep in mind without needing to write it down on a notepad. She recorded herself dancing and then went through those recordings over and over again, perfecting her steps like that. Sayaka admired Kyouko for her persistence, but at the same time was a little furious that she couldn't quite keep up with her.

While she was nibbling on a cookie tasting of bananas, she was pondering what she could make of the central conflict of the musical. There still wasn't enough passion in it. It sounded a bit flat on paper, and when she went over it in her mind, she couldn't quite picture anything happening. Sayaka tapped her pen against the top page of her notepad, which wasn't as filled and overflowing as the notepads of the others, scribbling some flowers and other shapes onto it.

And then, all of a sudden, it hit her with such a force that she flinched visibly. Sayaka's eyes went wide, and she had to hold back from shouting "I got it!" into the room. She fumbled with her pen a little, then began to write down in rather messy handwriting what had just come to her mind. It would be a bit of a challenge to decipher that after she had written it down, but it was the heat of the moment which required her to quickly grasp this idea, before it would slip out of her mind again.

Mami didn't interrupt her, instead starting to clean up the kitchen. It would soon be time to prepare something to eat, and she wanted to make sure that everything was nice and clean before she would start on the next dish. Preparing a spicy meal right in the middle of this chaos of flour, sugar and other spices would have been close to impossible anyway. She would have spoiled the taste, at least that was her feeling about it.

Sayaka leaned back, her eyes shimmering with triumph. "I got it now." She smiled broadly, as though she just had solved the crime of the century. "And it would have been so easy too! I know now what I need to include into the story to make the conflict really heated. Something to be admired and feared at the same time. Gods, this is perfect!"

Mami chuckled, leaning on the freshly cleaned counter. "If my cookies were the reason that you suddenly had the best idea in days, then I'll blush."

Sayaka chuckled, leaning over and pressing a kiss on Mami's cheek. "I don't know what you put into those cookies, aside of love and a whole lot of skill, but there definitely was something which gave me the idea. So, yes, you are the reason why I didn't end up frustrated about this whole thing."

Mami blushed lightly, but she still was smiling happily. She ruffled Sayaka's hair lightly, then started preparing something for lunch. Sayaka skipped up to her room, and in the next half hours, she was completely absorbed in writing scene after scene, drafting dialogue and first musical scores, and even getting a small collection of ideas of what the stage should be like. She felt like she was about to burst with happiness over just such a small detail. But in the light of what it did for her progress so far, it was far from a detail. It was just what she had needed all along to get everything rolling, and smoothly so.

Sayaka almost didn't hear Mami calling her down for lunch, and when she finally did come down, the other four were greeting her with big smiles. She blushed a little about that and laughed then, soon being joined by the others. They all knew that she had been working like mad for the past days, and Sayaka guessed that they were happy to see her so pumped up and filled with motivation to tackle just about any challenge, no matter if small or big.

"You look like you just ate a really good cookie." Kyouko grinned in this cheeky manner, which made Sayaka pout lightly. "Come on, don't pout. You know that I mean it in good humor."

"Yes, but still, you make it sound like an insult." Sayaka stretched lightly, and even though Kyouko's words had stung a tiny bit, she still was grinning like mad. "Though I would like to know what you put into those cookies, Mami. They really seem to make me quite happy."

"Well, they're cookies." Madoka chuckled, sipping on her tea before she continued: "They just make you happy, because they're cookies. That's all the reason you need."

The five girls laughed together, teasing one another with thoughts on cookies. Sayaka felt so utterly relaxed, she couldn't have imagined being anywhere else now. With a slight smirk, she thought about how they still referred to one another as girls, even though they were adults by law. But then again, they would always tease one another to be girls rather than women. Sayaka hoped that they would keep up this way of teasing for a long time to come. She wouldn't want to miss this light bickering, back and forth, just between the five of them. It was what glued them to one another, in a way. And it was always a source of entertainment.

While Kyouko was bragging about her latest progress with her dancing, Sayaka caught herself trailing off in her thoughts. They hadn't yet been to the old shrine up the mountain, and from what she had gathered, they weren't any plans on visiting the shrine all too soon. They didn't have any obligation to go up there as soon as somehow possible and make sure that everything was in order absolutely right away, yet Sayaka had just the feeling that they were dragging out the inevitable. They all had looked up about halfway the mountain slope, and none of them had the desire to go up there all too soon. It just looked so creepy and uncomfortable up there, it was making the looming obligation somewhat of a burden.

"Sayaka, what's the matter?" Madoka gently touched her shoulder, giving her a worried look. "You fell quiet all of a sudden and were all distant."

Sayaka laughed lightly, though it sounded strained. "It's alright, Madoka, you don't need to worry about anything. It wasn't anything important. I mean, there was just something bothering me a bit, but it's alright now. Really, you don't need to worry about anything."

Madoka nodded slowly, though Sayaka could tell that her friend wasn't quite believing her. There was one thing about Madoka, and that was that there was barely anything Sayaka could lie to her about. That included being worried about something. If someone was worried, Madoka seemed to immediately sense it, and try to find a way to comfort the other. It was one of the reasons why Sayaka felt so completely relaxed around Madoka, even when she was having a bad day. No matter how gray and dull everything seemed, there always was a reason to smile around Madoka.

"You're thinking about the shrine again, right?" Madoka leaned back in her chair, nibbling on one of Mami's cookies. The others had fallen silent, and looked back and forth between Sayaka and Madoka with a slight sense of discomfort about them. "We shouldn't worry about it. I mean, the owners told us that we could take our time with it. We should just watch out that we don't put this off indefinitely. Else, we would leave a part of our promise unfulfilled."

"I know, I know." Sayaka waved her hand dismissively. "I still don't feel all that well whenever I think about that thing. I mean, did you see how run-down it looked from the halfway point? If we are unlucky, we could be stuck with renovating the whole damned thing, and that would cost us more than it would be worth it."

"You're too pessimistic, Sayaka." Madoka suddenly smiled, and it made her face light up in one moment. "We will find a way to do everything about the shrine with only so much effort as we can give it. We won't be caught up for a too long time in this, I'm sure of that."

Sayaka nodded slowly, though remained unconvinced. The shrine lingered on her mind, like an itch she couldn't scratch. It didn't quite dampen her motivation to get some more work done, but it still bothered her that she couldn't just put her mind off it. While she was trying different versions for a rather emotional and complicated scene, the image of the shrine flashed before her eyes several times, throwing her off and leaving her in slight fear. Why was this damned building affecting her so much on this day? Was that some kind of premonition? If it was like that, it was one of the most horrible kinds of premonition, and she didn't want to be bothered with it.

Her mind finally was taken off that topic when she hit a gold mine of ideas, in a way. The only reason why she didn't jump up and down ecstatically was her urge to write everything down. It weren't all ideas fitting into the musical, but Sayaka could write down three pages worth of small snippets which all were promising in their own right.

She fiddled with her pen a little, trying to think up something which would get her creativity really flowing again. She was not quite happy with some of the things she had written down by now, and wanted to make sure that she wasn't completely ruining the mood of the whole musical in the process. Sayaka chewed on her pen, eyebrows furrowed and her gaze completely focused on the stack of music sheets and notes she had made. There was so much she still had to work on, and it was both frustrating and a nice challenge to her. How was she supposed to get everything done any time soon? Sayaka wasn't running on a schedule, and she wasn't expected to deliver anything to anyone, but she still wanted to get this done soon.

Maybe, it was just this competitive edge inside of her. Sayaka didn't like to admit it in front of herself, but she definitely wanted to get done before Kyouko would land her first employment as dancer. It was a personal matter for her, but then again, Sayaka had to admit that she was in a slightly disadvantageous position. She did have a bit of a fan base, but that wouldn't mean that she would have an easier time to land the deal she was dreaming of. It could be that she would take the next years to finally get to the goal she was aspiring to fulfill. She didn't know what the future would bring, so she was both excited and nervous about the whole ordeal.

She gazed out of the window, letting her thoughts stray off into some distance. Sayaka liked the way Homura put it. Whenever they allowed their thoughts to stray off, they would come back with the strangest things. That was the reason why they had endless lists of what they wanted to do. In a way, it wasn't to accurately tick off every single point on that list. It was simply impossible. In most cases, the lists were growing much faster than they could be worked with. That, consequently, left them with a huge pile of ideas they probably never would use. But keeping a list was helpful to keep track of what they wanted to do.

Rubbing her hand a little, Sayaka slowly went over what she had written down so far. She had the central conflict of the story pinned down, and she was sure of what she wanted to do with the musical score, even though she only had a couple of melodies so far. There wasn't much more she had to work with. It would take some more time before she would be able to present something which would be worth the showing.

Outside her window, a bird twittered. It made Sayaka smile. With how close they were to nature at this house, it was almost impossible to think about returning to the city. Out here, they had the necessary calm to work without interruption. Of course, they all missed the bustle of the city, which always assured them that there was something or someone to talk to or about. The contrast between city and village did indeed make a bigger difference than Sayaka would have anticipated. Madoka had warned her about that. She still was a bit unconvinced that it would remain like that for a longer time, but she was willing to let time surprise her.

"Sayaka?" She flinched and looked over, just to see Madoka peeking into the room. Sayaka smiled, waving Madoka to come in. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Oh?" Sayaka blinked curiously, waiting until Madoka had sat down. "Why didn't you ask me earlier on?"

"I honestly wasn't sure what to say when it came to my mind." Madoka picked up some of Sayaka's sheet, apparently trying to focus her thoughts on something. "I mean, it was just so weird that I dreamed about it..."

"What's the matter?" Sayaka was worried now, since it wasn't like Madoka to be almost upset about something. "Madoka, you can tell me. You know that you can tell me anything on your mind."

"Alright." Madoka smiled weakly. "But you have to promise me that you won't tell the others."

Sayaka nodded quietly. She wasn't sure what she should think about that, though. It wasn't like Madoka to keep something important a secret. Whenever something worried her, she wasn't slow to tell everyone, to try and find a solution for what was bothering her so much. Especially dreams often were a topic of conversations with her, so there was something peculiar about it.

What followed was one of the strangest stories Sayaka had heard up to this point. It brought the worries about the strange shrine right back to her mind, and as much as she tried to remain focused and empathetic towards Madoka, she felt as though something was going horribly wrong. She didn't want to think about that old, rickety shrine, which probably would consume more time that it was really worth it. But if Madoka already dreamed about it, and in such a worrying fashion, she had to take her friend seriously.

According to Madoka, there had been something like a blood read aura around the shrine. She had a hard time finding words for what she had experienced in her dream, but Sayaka could see that she was trying her hardest. She grasped Madoka's hands, to keep them from shaking ever so slightly, and listened well what Madoka had to say. Apparently, her friend had been spooked not only by a strange red light, which somehow seemed to have come from the outside. Madoka had woken up in the middle of the night, and the red light still had been present. But when she had looked outside the window, there had been nothing. Just a calm, and rather bright night with a full moon peeking from behind very small clouds. Sayaka found it strange that Madoka could swear that she had seen that light. It should have woken the others, too.

"Are you sure that you saw that red light?" Sayaka furrowed her eyebrows, thinking it through. "If you could see it, then shouldn't we have been woken by it, too? I don't want to call your story a ghost story or anything like that, but it does sound really strange. And it sounds creepy, too."

"I know..." Madoka sighed, looking a bit disappointed. "I don't want to bother you with it, but I'm really worried about this whole thing. I don't know what to think about it any longer. I know that I can trust my senses, but when there's something like that happening, it's just really worrying me. If I can't trust my own judgment any longer, then can I trust anything any longer?"

"Good question." Sayaka brushed through Madoka's hair, then smiled lightly. "You know what you should do? You should let your thoughts stray a little. You know what Homura says about it. Even if the thoughts that your mind brings back to you are strange and even creepy, they are all needed in our life."

Madoka chuckled, and the worried expression seemed to more or less melt off her face. She looked bright and a bit hyped up again, and then she poked Sayaka's cheek. "But first, you have to play something for me. I want to hear what you have so far. Maybe I can help you getting some ideas for what you need to change or insert still to make it perfect and work out just the way you want."

Sayaka blushed bright red, shaking her head quickly. "Oh, c-come on! It's not that good yet. I can't play it for you. It would be embarrassing for me!"

"Oh no, it won't be." Madoka laughed, poking Sayaka between the ribs until she was squeaking. "Come on, you're usually not that shy showing off what you can do. The only times you are shy about playing something are the times when you play for your parents, and when you play for a certain someone."

Sayaka growled and then tickled Madoka, until she was squeaking helplessly. They teased one another for a whole wile longer, but that didn't mean that Sayaka could weasel her way out of this. She sighed quietly, then finally admitted that she was a bit nervous about the whole musical. She sat by the e-piano, taking a deep breath, and then began playing.

Madoka sat close to her, eyes closed and a smile on her face. Sayaka was very careful to not make a mistake, since she wanted to give her friend the best performance she could deliver. That meant that her piece didn't sound quite that fiery as it was intended to be, but she just wanted to give Madoka a good impression of what it was intended to sound like. Madoka would be able to imagine the tempo on her own, and when Sayaka was finished, she could see that Madoka was simply ecstatic about what she had played.

"That was fantastic, Sayaka." She smiled, hugging Sayaka tightly. The blue-haired female was a bit bashful about it, but she was still proud that she had impressed Madoka so much. After all, it meant a lot of her that she could make Madoka smile that much.

"Thank you. And now, you have to help me. If you already promise that you will give me some input, then I expect some input."

 


	4. The Shrine Up Close And Personal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyouko and the others are taking a closer look at the shrine this time. And it seems like not only one thing about it has changed. Something has been taken from it, and some rather strange objects can be admired in the shrine itself.

"So, this is this famed shrine we are supposed to take care of." Kyouko cocked her head to the side, trying to get a better look at some of the work done on the roof. They had climbed the rather steep stairs on a slightly overcast day, but that was no problem in itself. They still had enough light to properly observe what might be the problem with the shrine, if there was any problem to begin with. "I don't know, but it does look kind of odd to me. There's something slightly off about it. But I can't tell what it would be."

She slowly walked around the shrine, or at least as far as she was able to. It wasn't as small as she had expected it to be. It had looked surprisingly tiny from afar, but up close, it was clear that not only the shrine, but also the surrounding trees were very old. A few of them were adorned with paper ribbons, and from how thick their trunks were, Kyouko assumed that they had to be a couple centuries old, or even older. It was impressive to see such old trees in such a time. But then again, old trees like this were often protected, especially when they were relatively close to Mitakihara City. The belief that they all should always watch out to keep their nature as beautiful as it currently was was ever present, and it had turned the world a lot greener and more colorful.

"I don't know, Kyouko, it looks plenty beat up." Sayaka sighed quietly. "Seriously, it looks like it hasn't been taken care of in years. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the beams were so thoroughly rotten by now that we would have to completely restore the shrine, just to avoid that it might just crash in the future."

"Stop being a pessimist." Kyouko punched Sayaka's arm lightly, just to distract her a little. "This is ridiculous. If it really was in such a bad shape, it wouldn't still be standing like this." She looked up at some of the wooden beams, then patted her hand against the one closest to her. It did feel a little rotten, but she was convinced that this was just a layer of moss and lichen. Plus, it had rained the previous night, and the clouds still hadn't gone away. It was highly likely that they were just seeing the shrine at a rather unflattering day.

Madoka and Homura, in the meantime, were trying to open the door, while Mami took notes of what they had discovered so far. It wasn't much to note down anyway, but it was good to have an impression of what might need to be done. Kyouko and Sayaka argued back and forth for a while whether what they saw was just superficial patina or a hint at structural damage.

While they were bickering, Kyouko had the impression that something about the shrine wasn't quite right. It was nothing to be immediately concerned about, just something that caught her attention. While Sayaka was bickering about how they absolutely shouldn't be bothered with this kind of work (something Kyouko had agreed with if there had been any definite proof that they were in way over their heads), she gazed up at the trees and tried to get an impression of how everything was located in relation to one another. She had the feeling that it was of significance somehow.

"Hey, Sayaka." Kyouko pointed at one of the trees. "Is it just me, or does it look like there is something carved into that tree?" Sayaka slowly nodded, but didn't seem to know what Kyouko wanted to get at. "To me, it kind of looks like there has been something like a fox there. But I could be completely mistaken."

"A fox?" Sayaka blinked and stepped closer to the tree. The carving was a little faded, but it was still relatively easy to spot what had been cut into the bark. Sayaka sighed quietly, shaking her head slowly. "It doesn't look like a fox to me. More like a strange sort of dog."

"Well, if you think so." Kyouko chewed on her bottom lip, then pulled out a pack of pocky. She needed something to chew on, something to distract her from the worries on her mind. It was odd that she would think of something like this to be rather worrying. She had said herself that this was all nothing to worry about, at least as long as the shrine was concerned. It was in rather good condition, and it would surely not be too much work for them. Yet somewhere at the back of her mind she could feel that it was not at all how it appeared to be.

She didn't let the others see what was on her mind. She didn't want to have them all worry along with her. Kyouko wanted to find out what it was about this shrine that worried her, before she would make any hasty decisions on what to tell her friends. That was a lot better than jumping to conclusions for sure. She hadn't got the time and the nerve to ask herself vital questions regarding this shrine without anything to back up what she was thinking. There had to be something that would either confirm or completely overthrow all of her worries.

Kyouko glimpsed into the inside of the shrine, a stick of pocky hanging in the corner of her mouth like a cigarette. She narrowed her eyes a little, trying to get a better look at what was inside. She had no idea if she even was allowed to do this. She was not quite accustomed to this sort of shrine, and she had no idea how it had been used in the past. However, since it had been abandoned for such a long time, she guessed that she absolutely had to look inside, to make sure not wild animals had made this house their shelter. She wouldn't have chased the animals off immediately, but she still would have been concerned with the possible damage various animals might have caused to the internal structure.

To her surprise, the insides were mostly empty. Maybe, someone had taken what was on the inside with them? It was entirely possible. Leaving something abandoned and without supervision for a too long time was caused to become troublesome at some point. She didn't want to think that someone would absolutely steal from this place, but it was not out of the question entirely either. And that was the troubling thing about all of this.

"How does it look like in there?" Mami called from the entrance, still a bit blinded by the outside light. While they didn't have the sun glaring down at them directly, the light coming through the clouds still was bright enough to cause trouble. "Is everything in order?"

"Well..." Kyouko hesitated, then crouched down and took a close look at the ground. There were definitely marks of something having been here, which for one reason or another was not there any longer. She furrowed her eyebrows, measuring the marks and shaking her head. "It looks like something was removed from here. On the whole, I count nine patches of damaged flooring, where something had been dragged away. The odd thing is that, after some time, it was apparently lifted. Whatever was taken from here, it was heavy. But for some reason, it seemed to become easier to move with time passing."

"Huh?" Mami came over to her, and let Kyouko show her the marks left by whatever had been at the shrine before. "Oh no, that's not good. If there really is something amiss here, and the family doesn't know, then that could cost us our good understanding with them."

"I'm less concerned with that and more worried about what someone would want with something in this shrine." Kyouko scratched the side of her neck. "I mean, I understand that just about anyone would see something valuable in old things. And that is nothing that I could ignore either. I want to find out what the Hell happened here. But before we can do that, we at least should make sure that the rest of what is here is in perfect condition. It wouldn't be very smart to leave this to chance."

Mami helped Kyouko to take a look at everything. Sometimes, they gave one another a boost, for one of them to look at something more elevated than they could have possibly accessed. So far, nothing seemed to be out of order, other than something heavy and possibly valuable missing from the shrine in general. But otherwise, everything seemed to be in order, which was more than just a little odd. Why would someone go through the trouble of making sure that heavy, most likely hard to handle objects would be removed from the shrine, while leaving the smaller and much easier to transport things on the side, completely untouched? Not even the dust around it was disturbed.

"Alright, other than a thorough sweeping of this place, nothing seems to be amiss." Mami sneezed and wiped her nose with a handkerchief. "But it sure is hard to remain in here. The air is rather moldy."

"I'm not surprised at all." Kyouko looked around. "I mean, this thing was closed up for a couple of years, so I didn't expect it to smell really nice. But it really is a shame, you know. It's as if the shrine wasn't important enough to at least take some amount of care of it."

Mami nodded in agreement. They both were very keen on keeping their own places in order, and everything nice. To see the shrine in such a state was heartbreaking, to some extent. They weren't quit as attached to it as they already were to the house, but it was still rather disheartening to see that the shrine had been neglected like this. It was understandable if there had been a really good reason to fear the shrine, but so far, Kyouko had seen nothing of particular concern.

"Kyouko, Mami, come outside!" Madoka's call made both of them look up and then at one another, in a rather worried fashion. "You have to look at this!"

Mami went ahead outside, but Kyouko remained behind and studied some of the shelves of the shrine. There were some here and there, small objects having been left behind. Kyouko carefully dusted off some of them. Most of the objects were something carved into resembling a fang or a paw print, but then there were small gems. It was strange seeing those. Kyouko picked one up, blinking in surprise. They were all about egg-shaped, had a rather dull color, and some of them even seemed to be slightly cracked. But they undoubtedly held in their intricate golden containers. Well, containers was a bit much for it. It rather seemed like a small ornament, to give it the appearance of a Faberge egg. Kyouko was rather entranced by the design, but she didn't want to take it into her hand. It looked a bit too fragile to be handled deliberately.

"Kyouko, what's the matter?" Madoka looked into the shrine, then gasped when Kyouko pointed at the strange gems. Madoka came closer, just as entranced by the strange objects as Kyouko was. "What are those? They look rather pretty."

"Well, they're not fancy enough to be Faberge eggs." Mami had joined them, too, apparently not having seen the gems before. It had been kind of hard to spot in the dim light of the shrine and with all the dust still clinging to them, dulling their color even more against the already dark wood. "But they sure look like less intricate replicas. Kind of elegant, though. I like this reduced style."

Sayaka and Homura came into the shrine as well. They were of a similar opinion as Mami, that the imitations were rather elegant with their reduced design. Though, all of them were puzzled why something like this would be at the shrine. There were a few hues of color among the rather dark gems, little specks enclosed in the crystalline substance.

"Maybe, it was some kind of fancy thing to have at some point." Mami sighed quietly and crossed her arms in front of her chest, while she was thinking her statement over. "Though, it's hard to imagine that it would have been here for such a long time already. I know that even several years ago, it was entirely possible to create something intricate and rather delicate like that, but it still is a bit strange what this is supposed to be."

"Maybe it was a toy for children?" Homura scratched her temple. "It would be a strange toy, but just think about it. I mean, it's not as though several years earlier, everyone was living in some kind of dark age, even though we sometimes might think about it like that. I could imagine that some of the more wealthy kids in the surrounding areas offered something like this to the shrine."

"It does sound kind of odd still." Madoka shook her head. "I can't imagine any parents buying this for their children. I mean, if it is really all made out of crystal and gold, from the way it looks, it would be rather expensive. More expensive than we could imagine probably. And that is something I can't quite believe. As much as parents love their children, spoiling them with something so expensive only that it will become so dark and broken?"

Kyouko nodded slowly, though she was not happy about it at all. She felt strange when looking at the crystals, as though something in the past was reaching out for them for help. It was an icky feeling, and one she would have preferred to get rid of. But she couldn't help staring at the gems for a prolonged time, wondering if they already had been like this when they had come here, or if some mysterious influence had shaped them like this. It was hard to imagine, though, that either was true.

"You look worried, Kyouko." Homura pulled Kyouko with her, a bit away from the others. "Mind telling me what is on your mind?"

Kyouko grabbed another pocky stick, thinking about it for a moment. "I don't know what exactly is bothering me so much about it, but there is a feeling that those gems weren't created in a natural way. And they haven't been placed here just for fun. But I couldn't imagine any reason why they would be placed here at all. They look so beat up and broken, it's almost scary to me. To think what force must have hit them... I mean, crystal doesn't break all that easily. If it falls from great height, it might just. But with how it seems, the gems rather were split from the inside, and that is far more worrying than imagining someone going through the trouble of seeking out a high place and dropping those gems from there. Plus, if they really fell from a great enough height to get cracked, how is it that even the gold is cracked? It's too soft to just crack like that. It rather should have been dented or bent into odd angles, but certainly not cleanly cracked like they are at the moment."

Homura gave her a very long, questioning gaze, but then slowly nodded. "I was thinking about the same thing. But I do wonder why you know about such things, Kyouko. This is highly unusual for you to know. Or did you pick up more interests than we are aware of?"

Homura smiled, and Kyouko sighed with an unnerved tone. That was rare of Homura, to tease someone about knowing something. But it was also kind of reassuring that Homura had joked a bit about the situation. They all felt a bit overwhelmed by the shrine's look and how everything seemed to have been changed after it had been left alone for a long while, until it had been entrusted to them again. It almost seemed like they had been pushed into a task they were not ready for as of yet, but that was just an initial impression. That was what Kyouko tried to tell herself, to reassure her racing mind that they weren't just abused for their working power. They had been given a chance, and they had a bit of work at hand.

"I guess that we should just make sure that none of the beams are really thoroughly rotten, but I don't know how we are supposed to do that." Homura looked worried again. "Do you think you can work out a way we could determine how the shrine is holding up at the moment? It would be reassuring to know that we aren't just handling an impossible task, and will have to go along with whatever comes to mind."

Kyouko thought about it for a moment. "Well, the easiest way I can think of is knocking against the beams, to check if they are hollowed out. Now, of course there's a problem if they are designed to be hollow, and we have no idea how to determine if they should be like this, or if there really is any damage. Alternatively, we could ask someone from the village to take stock of how everything looks. I don't think that they would expect of us to fully know how the shrine is doing."

Homura surprisingly looked a bit unhappy about that suggestion. "I think that we need to entrust this evaluation to someone with knowledge, yes. But I also fear that those gems we have seen are of importance. I don't know why, but I find the thought worrying that we would let anyone aside of ourselves come close to them. They are fragile already, and one knock against the shelf could be everything it takes to bring all of it down and destroy the gems. If they are part of the shrine, it would be quite the hassle to explain to the family what happened."

"Okay, now I think you're worrying way too much." Kyouko patted Homura's head and snickered. "You're over-analyzing the situation. Maybe, we can find a way to transport the gems, without damaging them. But that would be a risky move, just to remind you that they seem to be quiet breakable after all. Though, considering that there are earthquakes now and then, and nothing seems to have fallen off the shelves, it seems unlikely that they are really so incredibly breakable."

"Alright..." Homura sighed, then they carefully collected the gems into a soft bag. Mami made sure that every single of them would be wrapped individually, and that they would be cushioned a little against any shocks. It would have been embarrassing if they had already damaged one just with the preparation for transport. "I think they would look quite nice in the room with the kitsune figurines, what do you think?"

Kyouko didn't reply to that question, she was preoccupied with the pocky sticks. Instead, Madoka nodded and smiled. "I think that's a great idea, Homura. We could arrange them a little, so that they look nice. And maybe, we could clean them a little from all the dust. I think that the dark color really is just grime or something. Though I really wonder what got the gems so dirty..."

Kyouko left them to their banter and walked outside. Mysterious, very mysterious, the whole deal. First, they had found those strange figurines in the mansion, which all depicted different kitsunes. Then they had found those tree carvings around the shrine, though they seemed to look like dogs to everyone but herself. Then, there were those scratches in the shrine floor, which hinted at something having been dragged away from the original position. Then there were those strange gems, which looked strangely like Faberge eggs, and seemed to be completely out of place in this shrine. What in the world was this whole deal about the mansion and the shrine?

She still was wondering well after dinner, where they had chatted and laughed as though nothing had been strange about this day at all. It was something which nagged at her mind, persistently so. It was unsettling to feel it like this, but she supposed that it was only normal. Kyouko hadn't really been concerned with anything but her training lately, so the shrine came as a rather abrupt change. While she was laying in her bed, staring at the ceiling, Kyouko wondered if the shrine could become even more significant for the future, and how that would affect her progress. It was something important to consider. She had committed herself to this, so she was willing to see this through. However, if it meant that she would also have to watch out for strange phenomena, which she was sure that the gems, the shrine, and the whole mansion were, then it was a rather big strain on her mind.

"Stupid... Just stupid." Kyouko angrily punched her pillow and sat up straight. "Why should I worry about some old, rotten shrine anyway? Of course, there was this old lady, who supposedly worked at the shrine some years ago, but she shouldn't worry me. Old people sometimes say strange stuff. Which is rude to say, but it's nothing but the truth. And I won't back down from it just because it would be the polite thing to do. After all, it's me I'm concerned with here, and that's not unimportant either..."

Her rambling to herself continued on for several minutes, but then was abruptly interrupted by Sayaka coming into her room and immediately going on about teasing her. Kyouko was both thankful and incredibly annoyed for the interruption, and she took it as her personal challenge to make Sayaka pay for just bursting into her room. She attacked her with tickling fingers, until the blue-haired girl was squeaking with laughter.

"You're mean, Kyouko!" Sayaka redid her hair, grimacing lightly. "You shouldn't have ruffled me like that. It always takes me so long to really do my hair. You should be ashamed of yourself."

"Why?" Kyouko grinned teasingly, and offered Sayaka some of her sweets to calm the other girl a little. "But thanks for cheering me up. Now I'll sleep much better."

"Welcome." Sayaka laughed and hugged Kyouko, then she retreated. For the day, they both were pretty much done. And it sure wouldn't become any less challenging for them to navigate their daily life and all of the obstacles being hurled at them.

 


End file.
